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news
Lorry driver close passes police officer (Twitter, Jeremy Vine)Petition calls on BBC to fire Jeremy Vine over close pass Waitrose lorry driver video
A video posted on Twitter last week by Jeremy Vine showing a Waitrose lorry driver making a close pass on a member of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Cycle Task Force is continuing to make waves online – with a petition now launched calling on the BBC to sack the broadcaster after the driver was reportedly suspended by the supermarket operator. However, Waitrose says that isn’t true and that the driver, whom it supports, is still working there.
Vine had been riding with a group of cyclists including several Met officers as well as Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cox of Lincolnshire Police, who was on his annual fundraising challenge on behalf of the charity RoadPeace when the driver of the Waitrose lorry overtook them.
Footage shot by Vine on his helmet cam shows how the driver came within inches of hitting one of the riders who was in uniform, including a hi-viz jacket with the word ‘police’ written on the back.
Out cycling with HIGHLY VISIBLE police officers — and a massive @waitrose truck actually close-passes one of the @MetCycleCops! Take a look and see his reaction.
> Event: raising awareness and funds for @roadpeace with @AndyCoxDCS and colleagues https://t.co/MDUcPBKUYK pic.twitter.com/n8IEqsQSRM
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) May 21, 2022
In the video, the officer on the receiving end of the close pass, said that the lorry’s wheels were “touching the line” as he passed the cyclists.
“He thinks you’re on one side, he’s the other side, so he’s fine,” replied Vine.
“He’ll get undue care and attention for that,” the officer confirmed.
However, a number of Twitter users, some of them also HGV drivers, claimed that the lorry driver had done nothing wrong since he had stayed in his lane.
That prompted DCS Cox – who is the national lead on fatal collision investigation at the National Police Chiefs’ Council – to tweet in response that “The point lost by so many commenting on this thread is… Drivers have a responsibility to protect vulnerable road users. That way everyone gets home safely, alive.”
Despite that response from a senior police officer, the petition, hosted on the website Change.org and to date signed by more than 3,800 people, claims that the video posted by Vine, who hosts a lunchtime show on BBC Radio 2, is “clearly showing the driver had not committed the offence he was accused of.”
The petition – the full text of which appears at then end of this article – also claims that the video has resulted in the driver being “suspended from his job.” However, it turns out that is not true and Waitrose has said it supports the driver, whom it insists has done nothing wrong.
According to the website trans.info, the rumour that the driver had been suspended was begun by “lorry driver/influencer” Luke C in an HGV in a post on Facebook last Thursday.
He wrote: “Turns out the Waitrose & Partners Driver has been suspended pending further investigation! If this driver gets the sack that is absolutely outrageous! That lorry driver did absolutely nothing wrong. Stayed in his lane and didn’t injure the cyclist whatsoever.”
The HGV driver and YouTuber subsequently contacted Waitrose, who told him: “Please be assured this is not correct – the driver in question is still working for us.”
Waitrose added: “We’ve had a look into this and having reviewed the footage, it does look as though our driver used the correct positioning whilst travelling on a narrow lane.”
Jeremy Vine appears on both the BBC and Channel 5; he is no stranger to controversy: In October 2021, Ofcom received at least 300 complaints about the content of his Channel 5 show.
In May 2022 his show resulted in a complaint against an HGV driver who has since been suspended from his job, despite the video evidence from Vine's show clearly showing the driver had not committed the offence he was accused of.
It is likely the public have a limited amount of leverage when complaining about the content of commercial TV. However, as a publically-funded service, the BBC must be answerable to the licence-fee payers for the conduct of their employees, whether that be within or outside their own broadcasting purview.
For a very high-profile BBC employee to act as Vine has done in promoting unfair accusations against a hard-working member of the public, one of the people partly-responsible for paying his BBC-reported salary of £320,000-324,999, is intolerable and an insult to all HGV drivers across the country.
The 300,000-plus HGV drivers of the UK have a very demanding, essential, yet unappreciated role in society. Generally they are highly conscious of the safety of Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs); many undergo specific training created by organizations such as FORS & Transport for London, purely to safeguard VRUs. They should not be vilified on TV by cheap, sensationalist reporting of the kind promoted by Jeremy Vine.
The BBC should remove Jeremy Vine from their Radio and TV programming immediately.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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32 comments
There is an **ABSOLUTE** duty of care for motorists to not endanger the life of cyclists. I've had aggressive nutters use their vehicles to force me into parked cars cycling in the right line. If I'm already committed and undertook the manouevre to pass the parked cars obstructing my own lane by going into the RIGHT lane, these motorists still do not possess the right of way in their OWN lane if it would endanger me as a vulnerable road user: https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/a/84221/52565
Why is the nice policeman riding a child's bike with the saddle height setup for a 9 year old?
If you are talking about the first one you see next to Vine, then it is the same reason the truck has a very curved trailer.
Actually on seeing that cyclist, does Dave Atkinson have a second job?
Not that close. Here in New Zealand a lorry driver ran over and killed a Police Superintendent who had spent 5 years as the top road safety cop. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/496409/Top-cop-dies-in-crash
Although the description of the dooring incident at the bottom of the article seems to have the cyclist at fault for "hitting the opening door".
And then there's the headline "Top cop dies in crash"; rather more accurate would have been "Top cop killed by driver"
And undoubtedly he was wearing a helmet.
I *still* can't help but feel that if that was one of us - ordinary plebs - and not a police officer, absolutely nothing would have been done about it.
Is it known that action has been taken? As opposed to saying that something will happen?
I am not sure Waitrose should be so quick to defend the driver publicly. Whilst the road position from the Police was not brilliant to say the least, the onus is on the driver to pass safely. The road markings are pretty irrelevant.
What do you think was wrong with his position? I suppose he maybe should have taken the centre line of the outside lane... that's the only thing I can see that would for certain have prevented the close pass
This, I'm sure, will be an unpopular view, but if a vehicle can not circulate within the road markings, it should not be on that road. I also feel that artics should be banned from town and city centres, other major cities manage to function without artics clogging up the roads and putting people in danger.
The sense of entitlement that large vehicle drivers have is wrong, if you can not fit on the road, you shouldn't be there. If you have to force other road users to deviate or take avoiding action, you shouldn't be there.
I don't disagree with this. I live in a small village that has (in my opinion) a disproportionate amount of bus stops (something like 14 stops for the same route within maybe a 750m radius of the center of the village). These bus stops are serviced by unreasonably large Stagecoach buses that really struggle to navigate the village. They can't get round any of the junctions if there are any cars about, they constantly get stuck, they are too large to stay on their side of the road on sweeping, blind corners (there are a few corners that they have to mount the pavement to get round). I've had some really close calls both cycling and walking where a bus has "swung out" into my lane or the pavement I've been on. They're almost always 90% empty too.
I'm all for public transport options and providing an alternative to car journeys, but these buses are dangerous and just shouldn't be there. Stagecoach should service the route with smaller buses, or move the bus stops outside of the village.
Using my usual metric of comparing cyclists with the offending vehicle; would the lorry driver pass another lorry driving in the inside lane. The answer (speaking as a LGV licence holder) is no they wouldn't, there isn't space, so they should hang back until a wider space is available. Having said that, I do think the cyclists could be checking over their shoulders a bit more. Without the benefit of seeing the infrastructure in front, I'll reserve judgement.
But in the Ashley Neal world, the hgv driver would have alerted the policeman to their presence by using their not so insignificant horn..
And on that, does Ashley think that every motorist wishing to overtake a cyclist should alert them to their overwhelming presence by using their horn?
If you scroll down to the bottom of the petition underneath the first 2 comments you'll see a link where you can report the petition for containing misleading information. Reference the Waitrose quote above.
Good call - I've reported it for being misleading
Me too, but it's still there.
Looks like it finally had some effect, in that change.org have told them to correct the bit about the driver being suspended.
The revised text is still misleading, though, in that it calls the group 'Vine's team of cyclists', and claims that he encouraged them to make negative comments. So I reported it again.
So tempted to sign the petition just to comment so that I can brag that I *did* get a driver sacked for unsafe driving around me.
Petition writer in a nutshell: "The driver has been suspended. That's outrageous - people's jobs shouldn't be jeopardised by posts on the internet. Sack Jeremy Vine!"
Er...
I'm confused, what's Vine supposed to have done? An HGV driver overtook a police officer, the police officer took issue with the nature of the overtake, the police officer claimed that an offence had taken place, and (if I recall correctly) the police officer made the comment to the tune of "that'll be a conviction". Vine was just nearby with a camera running. So, why does the petition target him?
Just read the comments and all will be clear !
https://www.change.org/p/remove-jeremy-vine-from-the-bbc/c
He, JV, is a manipulative egoist using the position he occupies as a means to his own ends whilst deliberately using said position to ensure ordinary people are targeted.
God, I really wish I hadn't...
Of course "his own ends" being - ensuring people don't get squished by lorries.
Plus note - can we get details on 3,800 dangerous drivers and Police can get them some educational materials that coming within inches of a vulnerable road user "isn't doing anything wrong" - When Change is working properly it requires address info no?
Vine is a waste of 8 pints of blood. I used to like him, he is just a silly twat now. His radio show is tiresome, he has the most ridiculous stories on just to get a reaction.
I'm not keen on his radio programme either, but I really like his cycling advocacy and we don't have enough of it from people with his profile.
"In May 2022 his show resulted in a complaint against an HGV driver who has since been suspended from his job, despite the video evidence from Vine's show clearly showing the driver had not committed the offence he was accused of."
His show was incidental, and played no part whatsoever in the complaint against the HGV driver, and it hasn't even been confirmed that a complaint has been made. Neither has he been suspended, even though the police, not Vine, said that he had committed the offence.
Can someone please explain why they are targetting Vine?
I'd guess they don't like Vine's footage and discussion of road danger, so they'd rather get a confirmed life-long driver in instead.
I don't see the point of the petition as anyone who doesn't like him can choose to not tune in and if enough people do that, he'd likely lose his job or be moved to a different show.
Vine likes to stir the pot, so it's no surprise he gets flak.
Although it was the PC who said he would take action, that fact will be ignored.
Edit some replies
The driver has been proved innocent so vine should be penalised
Khan is Making Londons road Ridiculously unsafe
I detest Jeremy Vine and BBC in equal amounts.
That was a uniformed police officer, not just some lane hogging lycracist.
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